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Dec 19, 2012 By Austin Trunick Web Exclusive

Police break open the doors of a Parisian apartment after neighbors report that its elderly occupants have gone missing. Shielding their mouths and noses from a foul smell, they notice packaging tape sealing off the cracks in a door leading to their bedchamber. Entering forcefully, they find the corpse of Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) caringly laid out on her bed, impeccably dressed and showered with flower petals. Her husband, Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant), is nowhere to be found.

Michael Haneke’s Amour—“Love” in English—then rewinds an unspecified amount of time from its unshakable opening. The plot is sparse, lingering on scenes from the couple’s final months together: Anne suffers a stroke that paralyses one side of her body; doctors warn that her condition will worsen; husband tenderly cares for wife as her body slowly fails, robbing her of bodily control and eventually her speech. With arresting, heartbreaking performances from both of his octogenarian leads, director Haneke lets their struggles lay bare, sparing us none of the unpleasant details of dying, leaving the characters’ buried thoughts and emotions to be interpreted in his actors’ faces. Amour is a brutally difficult viewing experience, but it’s in no way a film you’ll desire—or be able—to forget. (www.sonyclassics.com)

Author rating: 9/10